PORTLAND, Maine — The progressive group Maine People’s Alliance said Wednesday that its volunteers knocked on more than 150,000 doors this election season and that the Nov. 3 results showed Maine voters want leaders focused on everyday costs.
“Mainers want elected leaders who have their priorities straight,” said Amy Halsted, the group’s co-director, in a statement released Nov. 4.
The organization, which says it has more than 32,000 members and is the largest community organization in Maine, credited its campaign work with helping elect Hannah Pingree, expand Democratic majorities in the state Legislature and send Troy Jackson to the Senate, which it said helped give Democrats the majority.
Halsted said families are “struggling to afford healthcare, housing, childcare, groceries and heat” and argued that voters had tired of politicians who, in her words, “try to blame our problems on immigrants, trans kids, or anyone else.”
The group also criticized federal spending priorities. Halsted said Mainers believe the billions of dollars congressional Republicans allocated for immigration enforcement came at the expense of families’ health care, and she said tax cuts for the wealthy “haven’t helped anyone pay the rent or afford to heat their home this winter.”
“We want leaders who will fight for bold solutions to the most pressing issues of our time — not moderate half measures or racial scapegoating,” Halsted said. “Yesterday, Mainers and Americans proved they are willing to fight for these kinds of leaders, and they made history.”
Maine People’s Alliance, which has offices in Bangor, Lewiston and Portland, says it works on housing, care, climate change and environmental justice, health care access, racial justice and immigrant rights.
This report is based on information from Maine People’s Alliance.
Source: Maine People’s Alliance
Leave a Reply